Playoff Preview

The 2-1 Trailblazers face the 2-1 LA Clippers in a preview of a potential first round playoff series. Just kidding. Funny how the ridiculous nature of that sentence used to be the other way around. It's certainly the Bizarro World when the Clip are a virtual lock to make the playoffs and a legit contender for the Title if they make a savvy move here or there and the Blazers are looking at another lottery pick. That being said, it is happy times in Portland right now, although early, everyone seems to be pumped up about the team. In true Blazer fashion, just when they get everyone fired up, they have a game against a Western Conference playoff team that isn't on tv. I love the Blazer front office. Anyway, the matchup:

Blazers:
Jarrett Jack
Brandon Roy
Ime Udoka
Zach Randolph
The All Star - presumably starting in place of Joel again.

The Clip:
Sam Cassell
Cuttino Mobley
Quinton Ross (I know, I don't get it either)
Elton Brand
Chris Kaman

Tim Thomas did start over Kaman on Saturday night against the Suns and I'm not sure why. The goofy starter is Quinton Ross over Maggette, his dog house status has been talked about at great length on major websites. On Saturday Ross had a stellar 19 minutes where he scored 2 points, pulled down 2 boards, had 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks to go along with his 4 fouls while Maggette went for 23 points and 12 boards off the bench. Seems perfectly reasonable that Ross would be the starter.

The Blazers are getting 11 tonight down in the Staples Center, The Loch is currently 3-0 against the spread vs 1-2 for this board's fearless Moderator. No word yet on what he's picking tonight, but I'm afraid I'm laying the 11 and taking the Clip. They're just a more advanced team than ours, playing at home, and I'm not overly optimistic about this one. The home games this week though, that's another story. Until then, enjoy watching the game tonight...or not.

UPDATE: The Blazers Blog Moderator will also be laying the 11 tonight and taking The Clip.